Well-line will remove the need for 90 percent of goods vehicle movements around Oxford Street by reopening the ‘Post Office Railway’

London – The demand for real estate is still high and prices were rising in recent years. Nevertheless, there is still unused space in the center of the British capital. Architectural practice Chetwoods recently released its Well-line proposals for the mothballed six-mile underground ‘Post Office Railway’ from Paddington in the west of London to Whitechapel in the east. The Well-line is one of four winners of an ideas competition initiated by the Royal Academy of Arts to open up London’s underused land potential. If the proposal is followed, the capital’s longest brown field site becomes a new delivery line. Whilst opening up new spaces for a ribbon of parks across the city center, it will be possible to carry parcels to destinations across central London.

The Well-line would act as a “Lung for London” combining a practical solution to the city’s urgent air quality needs with innovative and natural additions to the city center (Laurie Chetwood)

According to the architects, city vans and lorries account for 30 percent of London’s pollution. Harmful nitrogen oxide and fine particle matter affect physical and mental health in London. This is also very costly for the National Health Service. Well-line will remove the need for 90 percent of goods vehicle movements around Oxford Street by reopening the ‘Post Office Railway’. In Paddington arrived parcels will be delivered to warehouses built above the tracks by conveyors 60ft beneath the city. The transport takes maximum 20 minutes from Paddington to Whitechapel – a distance of 6 miles. Around 16,000 parcels can be conveyed every hour.

Removing the waste by Well-line makes it possible to reduce the aboveground waste transport

Additionally, it is possible to use Chetwoods’ underground transport system for waste disposals. Allegedly, more than fifty different waste disposers are operating around Oxford Street every day. Removing the waste by Well-line makes it possible to reduce the aboveground waste transport as well. A possible power generation from waste incineration at the end of the line can provide the energy to run the conveyors. Waste can be considered as a renewable resource. In this case, the line would be completely sustainable. Harmful emissions caused by waste incineration are very low with the latest filter technology. It is not very exceptional to place them within cities.

WELL-line section – London, UK (Laurie Chetwood)

However, if that would not be enough: Because of the subterranean transport line, the aboveground street traffic will be replaced by a linear park. Cheetwoods intends to increase the physical comfort and reduce sickness and stress with plants and water. Furthermore, an innovative technology, developed in the smog of Beijing, will actively filter and clean London’s air at rates of over 30,000 cubic meters per hour. Local bubbles of purified air provide a recreation area for people.

It’s planned to use nature-based metaphors, comparable to epiphytes (plants that grow harmlessly upon another plant and derive moisture and nutrients), for aboveground filtering posts. Epithytes grow in harmony with the host. They are not parasites.

Well-line – Oxford Street – London, UK (Laurie Chetwood)

“By creating a selection of permanent green oases across the densest parts of the city the Well-line would bring back a joy which has been lost in the grey of urban design” says Laurie Chetwood. “Critically, nature is not merely a “green wash”, the Well-line re-envisages a new city sustained from below. The line would emerge at street level, delivering goods and services and cleaning the atmosphere.“ he adds.

The researchers demonstrated their wireless charging system with an electric Toyota RAV4 and an integrated single-converter system

Wireless charging systems move electric mobility into a completely new light. It enhances convenience and acceptance by customers for this technology. However, wireless charging systems are still far from being a reality. Therefore, it is all the more important that research facilities, such as the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), search for real-world solutions. The largest US Department of Energy science and energy laboratory ORNL demonstrated a 20-kilowatt wireless charging system with a 90 percent efficiency at three times the rate of the plug-in systems usually used for electric vehicles nowadays.

Together with the industry partners Toyota, Cisco Systems, Evatran, and Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, ORNL developed in less than three years an architecture that includes an ORNL-built inverter, isolation transformer, vehicle-side electronics and coupling technologies. The researchers integrated a single-converter system into an electric Toyota RAV4 for a functionality test. For this purpose, the car was equipped with an additional 10-kilowatt hour battery.

“We have made tremendous progress from the lab proof-of-concept experiments a few years ago,” said Madhu Chinthavali, ORNL Power Electronics Team lead. “We have set a path forward that started with solid engineering, design, scale-up and integration into several Toyota vehicles. We now have a technology that is moving closer to being ready for the market.”

The researchers also evaluated and demonstrated the system’s dynamic charging capabilities (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

“The high-frequency magnetic fields employed in power transfer across a large air gap are focused and shielded,” Chinthavali said. “This means that magnetic fringe fields decrease rapidly to levels well below limits set by international standards, including inside the vehicle, to ensure personal safety.”

The researchers are already going one step further and prepare a 50-kilowatt wireless charging system. According to ORNL, it matches the power levels of commercially available plug-in quick chargers. The higher power levels are also needed in order to charge larger vehicles such as trucks and buses.

“Wireless power transfer is a paradigm shift in electric vehicle charging that offers the consumer an autonomous, safe, efficient and convenient option to plug-in charging,” said David Smith, vehicle systems program manager. “The technology demonstrated today is a stepping stone toward electrified roadways where vehicles could charge on the go.”

Only 50 percent in most cities have a household connection to the water network

The second largest urban center in Karnataka, Hubballi-Dharwad, will modernize its water supply. With the support of a $100 Million loan from the World Bank, it will become one of the first cities in India with a citywide, continuous, piped water supply. The Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization Project (KUWSMP) will help to provide water for one million inhabitants of the city and 160,000 slum dwellers. Also pilot projects in selected wards in the cities of Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Hubballi-Dharwad will be funded.

There is no city in India which supplies water to its citizens 24 hours a day. Water is provided for just a few hours a day for most of the people in India. Only 50 percent in most cities have a household connection to the water network. The poor are not connected at all, while paying higher prices to buy fresh water from private vendors. Waiting at public water taps takes hours.

Karnataka Water Supply – A cheap rate for poorer households will make the water deliveries affordable

The poor in India have to queue up endlessly at municipal taps to collect water or wait long hours at home, to collect and store water, losing time that could be better spent in productive work (World Bank)

Physical investments for the twin cities and the procedures and systems strengthening to close current water service delivery gaps sustainably are part of the project financing. A professional water supply operating company supports the government to improve the water supply system. According to strict performance criteria, they also manage the refurbished system through a 12-year contract. The municipality remains the owner of all assets and supervises the service delivery set up. In accordance with guidelines laid down by the state Government of Karnataka, the tariff-settings will be controlled by the municipality. A cheap rate for poorer households will make the water deliveries affordable.

Distributing water to residents not having a (working) water supply line in their houses. Taken at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India (By Arne Hückelheim [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

“The Government of Karnataka has laid down strict contractual provisions to hold the operating company accountable for improving levels of service to customers, whilst at the same time providing incentives to ensure that the improvements are achieved and sustained in the most cost-effective manner and do not strain the city’s finances,” said Bill Kingdom, Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist and the project’s task team leader for the World Bank. “In parallel, the Project will help the city of Hubballi-Dharwad establish institutions and financing mechanisms that will support sustainability of water services to the city in the long term.”

A US$95 million International Development Association credit for Rwanda’s urbanization strategy approved by World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors

The World Bank approved a US$95 million International Development Association credit as announced on 29 March 2016. The Board of Executive Directors intends to support Rwanda’s urbanization strategy through focused infrastructure development. To support local economic development and enhance living conditions for residents, ‘Rwanda Urban Development Project’ supports provision of basic infrastructure in six secondary cities – Muhanga, Rubavu, Rusizi, Nyagatare, Huye, and Musanze.

“The Urban Development Project will support secondary cities and the City of Kigali in creating more productive and loveable urban centers which over the long term will contribute to Rwanda’s goal of becoming a middle income country,” said Meskerem Brhane, World Bank Program Leader and Task Team leader for the project.

Investments are planned in roads, drainage, solid waste management, and sanitation. To stimulate the local economic development, further roads and associated infrastructure improvements will be made for the connection of different Agakiriro Centers, industrial parks, commercial areas in the urban core, and business development and employment centers. An upgrade of a 86 hectares unplanned settlement, accommodating almost 19,000 residents in four cells of Nyarugenge District in the City of Kigali, is also part of the project.

More than 500,000 people will directly benefit from this project. 19,000 residents in Kigali will benefit from access to improved infrastructure.

According to an official document provided by World Bank, Rwanda has made impressive progress after the 1994 genocide. The gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 8 percent annually between 2000 and 2013. It corresponds to a 170 percent increase in real GDP. However, economic growth during the first half of the decade (2000 to 2010) was concentrated in the City of Kigali.

Poor households in Rwanda’s urban areas were also 14 percentage points more likely to exit poverty than their rural equivalents and the rate of chronic poverty was three times lower for urban than rural households. In the eyes of the government of Rwanda, urbanization is a key driver for economic growth and the reduction of poverty. Rwanda is one of the most densely inhabited countries in Africa. It is also one of its least urbanized and significantly below the average in Sub-Saharan Africa with 37 percent in 2014 (Data: World Bank).

Urban population (% of total) of Rwanda (World Bank)

Further details see Project Appraisal Document For An Urban Development Project.